School Board ‘Traveling’ Workshop Review

Tuesday morning our school board workshop began a little differently.  Board Members and Superintendant Himmel met in the Multipurpose “Theater” room at Crystal River Middle School.  Chairman Murray opened the meeting.   ( So that you understand school board members like other public officials must operate in the ‘Sunshine’ meaning under Florida Sunshine Laws.  This means that in order for school board members to speak to each other on subjects that we have to vote on ,  a meeting must take place in the public.  Generally this means that an ad is put into the newspaper in advance of the meeting and  the public is notified of   the date, time and meeting place(s).  Ordinarily,  the place is Citrus County School District Board Room at 1007 W. Main Street, Inverness.  But today our meeting places would be Crystal River Middle (CRMS), Crystal River High (CRHS), Crystal River Primary (CRP) and Lecanto High (LHS). )

At CRMS we learned more about the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program and Education2020 (e2020).  AVID is a college readiness system that is designed to increase schoolwide learning and performance. The AVID system accelerates student learning, uses research based methods of effective instruction, provides meaningful and motivational professional development, and acts as a catalyst for systemic reform and change. AVID targets students in the academic middle – B, C, and even D students – who have the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard. These are students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential. Typically, they will be the first in their families to attend college, and many are from low-income or minority families. AVID pulls these students out of their other courses and puts them on the college track: acceleration instead of remediation. The AVID curriculum, based on rigorous standards, was developed by middle and senior high school teachers in collaboration with college professors. It is driven by the WICR method, which stands for writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading. AVID curriculum is used in AVID elective classes, in content-area classes in AVID schools, and even in schools where the AVID elective is not offered.  At CRMS AVID is playing a vital role in helping students  better challenge themselves.  It was impressive going from classroom to classroom seeing the learning and study strategies CRMS AVID students were using.  We then visited the e2020 lab.  e2020 is helping some of our students with their core and elective instruction in a virtual school setting.  Students can work on “course recovery” by working on mastering skills they did not master in their regular curriculum.  This is helping many students who might be retained in middle school make the important learning gains to advance to high school.

We then traveled to CRHS to tour the new classrooms, labs, and guidance and administrative buildings under construction.  It is going to be a wonderful learning environment for our high school students. We then traveled to CRP to see the recently constructed wing and the renovated classrooms and cafeteria.  For some students it was the first day of class in the new art and music rooms.   I appreciated seeing the many positive changes that other board members made to improve the designs for our students.  Mrs. Powers suggested adding student restrooms in the cafeteria something that is both practical and safe for our students.  Mrs. Deutschman was instrumental in the sound – reducing designs  being added  and it was successfully working  while we were visiting  that day with a cafeteria full of kids.

Next we  traveled to Lecanto High School to tour and see the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.  The IB’s Mission is “to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”   The high level of course study in the IB and AP programs is impressive.   These students are learning curriculum standards that were  saved for college level  when my generation was in school.    In Senor Sullivan’s Spanish class students holding full conversations in Spanish.   While in Mr. Jackson ‘s class Algebra 2 class  many of us teased that we needed to leave quickly before we were asked to answer a question and couldn’t. [smile]  Then we spent time in Mrs. Bowman’s Biology class.   The students were flipping two pennies to determine trend patterns and how that might relate to biological patterns.  After we finished our tour, six Junior IB students sat down with us and we talked with them about the program, asking why they felt IB was best for them and what  the successes and challenges of being an IB student were.   It was interesting that they all noted how they comrades in their studies.   They both support and challenge each othe and share similar goals  and dreams.   They  explained the workload was not  to the level of 60 lbs backpacks bringing brought home nightly  as some students (not in IB) tell.   However, they did feel the workload was necessary and critical to their success.  They spoke about the balance that IB requires of  high academics  along  with arts, athletics ,  and community involvement.  As they finished they each shared both their desired 1^st choice colleges and careers. These students hoped to attend the    University of Florida, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida  and planned on becoming an   a rchitect,  anesthesiologist ,  podiatrist, and teacher.  Each knew exactly what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go.  Each was well on their way.   IB is not for all high school students.  IB isn’t even for a majority of students but it is a great program for several students and we feel will find it to be not only successful for the students but to our community as those who finish the IB  program  and college return to work and serve in Citrus County.

The ‘Traveling Workshop’ was an important opportunity to see first hand the impact of the decisions that we as a board make everyday

Related Links

• Crystal River Middle School
• Florida Sunshine Laws
• Advancement Via Individual Determination
• Education2020
• Lecanto High School
• International Baccalaureate (at LHS)

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